Church unwilling to compromise
Rhode Island Democrats are pushing ahead with a bill to legalise same-sex civil unions despite protests by the state’s GLBT community and the Catholic Church.
Last month, the state’s openly gay House Speaker Gordon D. Fox announced he would not back a same-sex marriage bill in 2011, despite co-sponsoring the legislation. Believing he cannot deliver the votes to pass a marriage bill this year, Fox switched his support to the civil unions bill.
However, after mounting a campaign against the same-sex marriage bill, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence is now pressuring state lawmakers to reject the compromise civil unions bill as well.
“We call upon the members of the Rhode Island House and Senate to cast aside such compromises and rather work to strengthen marriage in our state by passing a Defense of Marriage Bill that clearly defines marriage as between one man and one woman,” the Diocese said in a statement.
“Only then will the attempts by radical activists to redefine marriage and undermine family life in Rhode Island finally be stopped. Civil Unions are not the answer.”
The campaign by the church comes despite polling last year that showed 63 percent of Rhode Island Catholics support marriage equality.
And what exactly is the reason that they can’t live in a state with someone else having a same-sex marriage and why are the catholics discomfort more important than someone else’s dignity, family and rights?